A small hint is possibly given to Oliver's origins, but mostly it's just a continuation of the teen angst from last time. The pacing is soooo sloooow.

And it was off-putting that the only brown-skinned male featured was shown accosting our lily-white heroine so she could be saved/avenged by two even whiter guys. I'm not accusing the creator of anything, I've just been reading a lot of books about racism this month and this caught my attention in a way I know it would not have just a few days ago. ( )

The series continues to examine normal teen life but adds in new mysteries. There are some clues but you are still left guessing. The series has done a good job of hooking me on it. ( )

FINALLY, some progress and some great friendship moments too. ( )

The one where we finally discover Oliver's flavor!

(Full disclosure: I received a free e-ARC for review through Edelweiss.)

-- 3.5 stars --

A long-running weekly comic on WEBTOON, Stephen McCranie's Space Boy is teased as "A sci-fi drama of a high school aged girl who belongs in a different time, a boy possessed by emptiness as deep as space, an alien artifact, mysterious murder, and a love that crosses light years."

The MC is Amy, a sixteen-year-old girl who's pretty normal except for the fact that she's an unwitting time traveler. Born on a mining colony, her family was forced to return to earth when her father lost his job. Since it's a thirty-year journey, Amy and the 'rents were cryogenically frozen for the trip: hence the "girl out of time."

The family settles in Kokomo City, where Amy enrolls in South Pines Academy. Though she misses her BFF Jemmah (now old enough to be Amy's mom; could this be the "love that crosses light years"?), she soon finds her own new social circles: football star David, his girlfriend Cassie, and their friends Zeph, Meisha, Maki, Logan, and Howard; and the school's agriculture club, which includes fellow crossover Meisha, and Tamara and Shafer.

And then there is Oliver, the mysterious, silver-haired boy who does not seem to have a flavor. (Amy has synesthesia and "tastes" peoples' personalities.) Though her friends think he's trouble with a capital T, Amy gravitates to Oliver, and vice versa. But for reasons not yet revealed, Oliver's very existence is classified - and their continued friendship endangers Amy's life. Enter: the alien artifact and mysterious murder.

Volume 6 collects episodes 76 through 92 of the WEBTOON comic, originally published between 8/24/16 and 12/15/16 (yes, the trade paperbacks are very far behind! Do yourself a favor and create a WEBTOON account so you can stay up to date.)

http://www.easyvegan.info/img/space-boy-volume-6-05.jpg

One thing I don't love about the trade paperbacks is that the plot seems to progress at a snail's pace, and Volume 6 is no exception; 256 pages and we're still not done with Spirit Week! Still, this is an enjoyable and bittersweet collection.

http://www.easyvegan.info/img/space-boy-volume-6-04.jpg

Volume 6 sees Oliver continue to distance himself from Amy, while fissures deepen among some of Amy's friends. Amy gets to experience her first snowfall - and snow day! - for which mom thankfully yet temporarily lifts her grounding (that's a whole 'nother story). Amy finally discovers Oliver's flavor (orange with hints of cinnamon, brimming with passion and vibrancy and life - the complete opposite of Nothing) - revealed, oddly enough, as he's beating the piss out of a bully. Before she can even begin to process, Oliver and his foster dad Dr. Kim vanish, just as mysteriously as they arrived.

http://www.easyvegan.info/img/space-boy-volume-6-02.jpg

The agriculture club's baby chicks make a quick cameo, as part of Tamara's efforts to lift the spirits of a mopey Amy. My feelings about the ag club are something of a roller coaster: initially I was overjoyed that Amy made the connection between the soft, floofy, sentient creatures she was loving on and the chicken salad sammie on her plate, and vowed to go vegetarian. This quickly crumbled when she got an accidental mouthful of bacon on Oliver's sandwich and decreed that it was fine, so long as the agriculture club doesn't start raising baby piggies. Speciesist much?

And the very existence of animal agriculture so far in the future feels like a disappointing lack of imagination of the artist's part. When I first started reading Space Boy, I thought it had to be at least 30 years in the future, to allow for Amy's travel. Probably more like 100+ given all the new tech. But when Amy starts researching the Arno and its mission to reach the alien artifact, we learn that the year is actually 3355: The Arno launched in 3051, and was supposed to reach the artifact in 300 years - which, for Amy, was 4 years ago. 3051 + 300 + 4 = 3355.

So you're telling me that it's more than a thousand years in the future and we don't have synthetic or lab-grown meat yet? That we're still breeding and raising sentient creatures to be slaughtered for food? That our morals have evolved so little? Gross, dude. If this is the future, I hope humanity burns itself out well before 3355.

http://www.easyvegan.info/img/space-boy-volume-6-03.jpg

But yeah, baby chicks are hella cute.

http://www.easyvegan.info/2020/03/24/space-boy-volume-6-by-stephen-mccranie/ ( )